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The Column: Post-debate, Brown sets off brew-haha

After Thursday night's high-stakes U.S. Senate debate, sponsor WBZ-TV told reporters that the candidates would be available for questions. Democrat Elizabeth Warren faced the media, but Sen. Scott Brown bowed out, sending campaign manager Jim Barnett as his proxy.

Barnett said Brown "had a long day."

But Brown did squeeze in a quick post-debate interview with Dan Rea, the conservative host on WBZ Radio. Rea also invited Warren to appear on his show, but she declined.

WGBH reporters intercepted Brown in the studio's parking lot as he made his way to his pickup truck after talking with Rea. They asked him how we was feeling, considering he was stretching and peering down at the floor throughout the hourlong forum.

"I had been in a plane," said Brown, who was in Washington, D.C., earlier in the day. "I haven't eaten. So, you know, I'm just looking forward to spending some time with the boss over there."

The "boss" is Brown's wife, former Boston television reporter Gail Huff. Brown then got into the truck and slammed the door.

Brown must have caught a second wind. He later attended a post-debate get-together at the Green Briar Pub in Brighton.

The pub posted 16 photos on its Facebook page of Brown posing with patrons, holding a pint of beer while mugging for the camera, and even getting behind the bar to pour a cold one.

"Thank you to Senator Brown for visiting us last night after his debate and pouring a pint!" read a message posted to the pub's page.

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The Brown campaign declined comment.

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LOWELL MAYOR Patrick Murphy took to the Mayor's Office blog this week to announce the new chair of the public-safety subcommittee, Bill Martin, but in his Thursday night post he also took time to criticize some of his fellow city councilors for votes on public-safety items.

First, Murphy chided those who voted to cut police overtime by $100,000 in a 5-4 vote during the budget debate. Those who voted for the cut were Councilors Rodney Elliott, Ed Kennedy, Marty Lorrey, Joseph Mendonca and Rita Mercier.

The cut reduced police overtime from $800,000 to $700,000, which was still an increase of the budgeted police overtime funding in fiscal 2012. But Murphy said the vote was part of a "short-sighted scramble" to get to a zero tax increase.

"To be clear, the decision was a political one, and all the speechifying in the city cannot hide that fact," Murphy wrote.

Murphy also chided councilors who voted against his recent motion seeking to force owners of residential buildings with 13 or more units to begin paying the annual $275 monitoring fee for the boxes.

Murphy said the vote was part an effort by councilors "to portray themselves as taxpayer- and business-friendly" by voting against implementing a fee approved by the council in 2009.

Murphy did not note that City Manager Bernie Lynch could have implemented the fee on his own and that now that initiative could be squelched because the council's 5-4 vote against Murphy's motion.

Elliott, Kennedy, John Leahy, Lorrey and Mercier voted against the motion.

Kennedy told The Column he was not amused by Murphy's blogging.

"If you are the mayor you are not supposed to spend time bashing city councilors, some of whom put him in his position," Kennedy said.

Kennedy defended the police-overtime cut, saying $700,000 is more than last year's budget and still a lot of money for police overtime, especially when some police positions in the budget were vacant, but funded.

The councilor also said the council was wise to reject Murphy's fire-alarm fee motion. The motion was filed in the weeks following the revelation that the inspector general determined owners of residential buildings with 13 or more units were forced to buy new fire-alarm boxes at a price much higher than than the company paid to obtain them.

"The timing of the motion was imprudent and the vote could not be seen in any way as having an impact on public safety," Kennedy said.

Murphy contends Martin agreed to become the public-safety chair on Monday. That was news to other city councilors, who still hadn't received word of the move as of early Friday.

It was also news to The Sun, which had tried to reach Murphy earlier in the week about the topic, but did not get a response.

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SEVEN OF the nine Lowell city councilors attended Monday's Centralville Neighborhood Action Group meeting on crime across the city, and police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee noticed.

Only Kennedy and Elliott did not attend, but both attended a similar meeting last week in the Mayor's Reception Room at City Hall.

Elliott's absence was noteworthy because he's been at loggerheads with Murphy over the issue, alleging that the mayor is disengaged.

Lavallee touted the coming benefits of a $900,000 grant police are getting to increase patrols and programs in the Centralville neighborhood, and he made sure he mentioned that Lowell is one of just six cities in the country to get such a grant.

Lavallee thanked the councilors in attendance, as well as Lynch, for allowing him to frequently travel to Washington for face-to-face meetings with the federal officials who dole out such grants.

Those trips have not always been popular with all residents in Lowell, but Lavallee said those face to face meetings make a world of difference when the LPD tries to score big bucks from Uncle Sam.

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LAVALLEE prefaced his comments by saying he was in no way trying to make a political statement.

He then proceeded to make a cutting political statement.

Lavallee pointed out that Democrats such as President Barack Obama and especially Bill Clinton, have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into federal grant programs, such as COPS, which have helped police across the country hire more officers.

Lavallee said Republicans have offered police virtually no money at all.

He even recounted a meeting he attended in 2007 with representatives of then-nominee Obama, and Republican nominee John McCain.

Lavallee said Obama's people said they would provide millions to programs that help hire police officers, while McCain's people said they would provide nothing, but that they hoped police would vote for McCain because police tend to side with Republicans on more philosophical issues.

Lavallee closed his remarks by once again saying he wasn't making a political statement.

Murray sent out several messages on Twitter last week about his experience taking the train to work from his home in Worcester. Murray's enthusiasm about going car-free has elicited some chuckles in political circles.

Last November, of course, Murray totaled his taxpayer funded car in a mysterious, early-morning crash.

A state police investigation of the car's black-box data later revealed he was driving 108 mph just before the accident. Murray, who escaped the wreck without serious injuries, said he fell asleep at the wheel.

Murray later poked fun at the incident by showing up at the St. Patrick's Day breakfast dressed in a race car driver costume.

Car-Free Week, which ends today, is an annual event in which commuters are encouraged to walk, bike or take public transportation to work.

Gov. Deval Patrick led by example this year, walking from his home in Milton to Mattapan Square to take the MBTA to the Statehouse.

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THE LAWYER introduced by Gov. Patrick Thursday to review thousands of criminal cases potentially tainted by the rogue state drug lab chemist is well-known in this region.

David Meier, a defense attorney and partner at Boston law firm Todd & Weld, was a county prosecutor for 20 years, including 12 years as the chief homicide investigator in the Suffolk district attorney's office.

In announcing Meier, Patrick said he is "uniquely suited" to identify cases that may have been tainted by Annie Dookhan at the now-closed state crime lab in Jamaica Plain.

"He brings a level of integrity to the process that is desperately needed," David Frank, a writer at Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and a former state prosecutor who worked in Suffolk's gang unit when Meier headed the homicide team, told the Associated Press. "David's been a prominent figure in the criminal justice system for a long time."

Meier also has ties to Greater Lowell beyond the courtroom.

Meier was hired in 2010 by former City Councilor Alan Kazanjian. Kazanjian built a commercial building in North Chelmsford on the Lowell line off Middlesex Street and hooked up sewer lines to Lowell after being told he couldn't.

Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone closed an investigation into Kazanjian's actions after 11 months, saying there was not enough evidence of criminal wrong-doing.

Despite neighborhood opposition, Daly convinced the Planning Board Thursday night to rezone a parcel of land at the end of Westview Road so he can build seven high-end homes. The City Council will take up the same rezoning issue Tuesday night.

In a recent meeting with Sun editors and reporters, Daly said there was no truth to the rumor that Kazanjian, who once lived on Westview Road, helped bankroll the $2.5 million project.

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MOST PEOPLE are lucky to have one attorney with them in court. Former Tewksbury Recreation Director Roy Patterson had two.

Patterson was in Lowell District Court last week pleading not guilty to larceny under $250 and violation of the conflict-of-interest law for the mismanagement and mishandling of funds at the recreation center. Standing up with Patterson before the judge was attorney Nicholas J. DiMauro, but sitting with Patterson while he waited for his arraignment was well-know Tewksbury attorney Richard O'Neill, a former Tewksbury School Committee and Special Act Charter Committee member.

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Contributing to The Column this week: Enterprise Editor Christopher Scott, State House Bureau Chief Chris Camire, Lyle Moran in Lowell City Hall, Lisa Redmond in the courts and Robert Mills on the police beat.

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